Competition good for area golf courses

People live in the Lowcountry or retire to the Carolinas because they can golf year round. It’s an amenity most golf courses or golf course-communities market heavily.

Sun City Hilton Head is no different.

With about 13,400 residents and about 25 percent of those residents, avid golfers, Sun City Hilton Head has a captive audience when it comes to golf. The word evokes strong opinions from residents who sometimes think they pay a premium to help keep the golf courses in the development maintained and in mint condition.

Golf course maintenance is not cheap and golf is not an inexpensive hobby.

Other area course management keep their eyes peeled for news about the Sun City Hilton Head courses — with good reason. While Sun City works to keep its players at home, other area courses love to see them on their courses. Creative marketing efforts are deployed by competitors to lure or “poach” golfers. It’s all part of the game.

This is not a bad situation to have. A little friendly competition for golfers is the American way. And golfers like options. Playing the same golf course over and over has it pros and cons.

Pulte Homes, the developer of Sun City Hilton Head, relies on golf as the amenity with the biggest footprint to attract future homebuyers — and preserve property values for existing homeowners.

Sun City’s business plan is different than that of other area golf courses as it should be.

The model used has a goal of breaking even. That’s the reason the Sun City Hilton Head board last month approved a new rate structure not intended to unduly assess residents but to help pay the cost of the maintenance and improvements at the development’s three golf courses.

Of course keeping the golf courses in mint condition also helps the residents maintain property values in an economy that still has not rebounded.

Make no mistake, the new rate structure at Sun City Hilton Head is intended to keep residents at home. But also invites non-residents to play and help pay the bills.

Golf course rates are a huge topic of discussion. An August town hall meeting to talk about issues and rates drew about 550 residents. The comments from residents and other information about course conditions is used when the Sun City Community Association works to develop the next year’s rate structure.

But it all goes back to maintenance and how that bill gets paid.

The more players on the courses, the more upkeep. Greens fees alone don’t pay the bills.

“The idea is to run our business the best we can do without overcharging or undercharging anybody,” said Matt Edlin, a golf professional at the Hidden Cypress course in Sun City in Sunday’s Bluffton Today. “Certainly a for-profit golf course can lower prices, but there’s also maintenance to consider,” Edlin said.

Sun City targets the different golfers — the nine-holers, the 18-holers, the occasional players, the regular players. With the addition of the Argent Lakes to Okatie Creek and Hidden Cypress layouts, Sun City has started marketing golfers outside the gates. Targets are doctors at area hospitals and corporations such as Gulfstream in Savannah and CareCore National in Bluffton.

The efforts are subtle because Sun City Hilton Head’s main objective is to build the tee sheets with its own golfers.

Creative pricing and packaging is done by Sun City Hilton Head as well as the other area courses.

The competition is good for everyone involved. Sun City Hilton Head won’t be able to keep the many residents who play golf from leaving that community for a round or two, but they will be able to pay to maintain and upgrade the courses.

This is a win for Sun City Hilton Head and the Lowcountry golf community.